Cottage destroyed in Smith Bay fire

GORDON—A seasonal resident’s cottage on Smith Bay was destroyed in a fire on Tuesday morning of this week.

The fire destroyed the large log cabin, owned by Jason Gibson and his family, residents of Sudbury. The blaze took place at about 11:20 am Tuesday morning and was observed by two area residents who made a 911 emergency call to the Gore Bay/Gordon Volunteer Fire Department and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).

Bill Oldenburg explained that he and Ches Witty, “were travelling back from Barrie Island and had gone to his house (on Highway 540). At that time there was no smoke or fire, but when we came out of the house 10-15 minutes later we saw smoke from Smith Bay Road and went down to check and make sure it wasn’t just a brush fire.”

The two local men travelled to Smith Bay to get a first hand look, “saw the fire and came back to call 911,” said Mr. Oldenburg. “The cottage was already fully engulfed with flames when we got there and burned completely to the ground by about 11:45 am or a few minutes later.”

The Gibson’s cottage had been built by Jack Hester and neighbours told the Recorder the family had left the cottage to travel back to Sudbury on Monday.